October 09, 2017 - Disclosure of inside information under Article 17 MAR

SAF-HOLLAND adjusts its outlook for the 2017 financial year

Luxembourg, October 09, 2017 +++ SAF-HOLLAND S.A. ("SAF-HOLLAND") is adjusting its sales and adjusted EBIT margin forecast for the 2017 financial year. These adjustments are based on the still preliminary, unaudited Group figures for the third quarter of 2017 and on an assessment of the expected further development of sales and earnings for the remaining months of the year.

According to the preliminary figures, Group sales in the third quarter of 2017 increased by roughly 8.3 % to approximately EUR 277.1 million (previous year: EUR 255.8 million) supported by strong organic sales growth of 9.6%. In the United States demand from customers in the truck and trailer industries picked up dynamically versus the previous year. APAC/China and the EMEA/I region continued to record solid year-on-year growth. The Group's adjusted EBIT in the third quarter of 2017 reached approximately EUR 20.9 million (previous year: EUR 21.6 million). Figures are adjusted for one-time restructuring expenses of around EUR 4.0 million in total that mainly stem from the US plant consolidation (approximately EUR 3.0 mn) currently underway, during which the number of production locations in North American is being reduced from seven locations to five.

Due to noticeably stronger-than-expected demand from many OEM customers in North America, which coincided with the late-stage transitioning measures being undertaken as part of the current plant consolidation and the resulting temporary limitations on capacity, it was necessary to incur additional operating expenses in the third quarter of 2017 of roughly EUR 3.0 million in the Americas region. No adjustment was made for these expenses. Managing the high production quantities in the United States during this phase caused production inefficiencies and the temporary need for a significantly higher number of employees than originally planned. Freight and logistics costs were also forced sharply higher. Together these factors had an adverse effect on the operating results in the Americas region.

Based on the above, the SAF-HOLLAND Management Board now expects higher organic Group sales in the 2017 financial year in the range of EUR 1,125 million to EUR 1,135 million versus its previous forecast for Group sales "tending towards the upper end of the sales range of EUR 1,060 million to EUR 1,090 million". In terms of the Group's 2017 adjusted EBIT margin, SAF-HOLLAND expects the margin to remain within the originally planned range of 8-9% but now anticipates the margin to rather tend towards the lower end of the 8-9% range planned instead of "tending towards the mid-point of the range of 8-9%", which was originally forecast.

Contact:
SAF-HOLLAND GmbH
Stephan Haas
Hauptstraße 26
63856 Bessenbach

Phone +49 6095 301-617
Stephan.Haas@safholland.de